Night Encounter
Coming up the stairs
Through the light drizzle
One dark night, I met him
One with the darkness
I stopped for a moment,
Frightened, tense.
He laughed gently and I relaxed
Happy to find
In spite of the gun
He was still a man
It lit the dark
that gentle laugh
In the pitch of night...
But it was only the low laugh
Of one who was soon to die.
By Ken Saro-Wiwa
From Songs in a Time of War
from the ANA website
Who was soon to die, the man holding the gun or the speaker. And who laughs (low or high) when they're about to die?
ReplyDeleteBoooooring! :-)
argghh... Fred, you're such a boor...
ReplyDeleteIt's the ambiguity that makes this so beautiful and so chilling.
ReplyDeleteNow, this is beautiful and chilling:
ReplyDeleteAs I was walking down the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
I wish, I wish he'd go away!